Its a Promise
by TENNIS-w-GUITARS
Summary: It was so sudden, everyone was surprised. Even the most smartest of guild members didn't see this coming. Maybe it was because it was so out of the blue, so strange to even consider happening anytime soon, that it was harder to believe- let alone begin to accept. Natsu wasn't coming back this time, and with his death he leaves behind his family.


**I Promise to Fulfill Our Promise**

The sun was shinning bright on our day of mourning. Tears and wails of sadness littered the guild of Fairy Tail, for today they lost one of their own.

Natsu had a family at home, a son who looked just like him, and Lucy, his wife, waiting for him. When they found out, at first they denied the truth. He couldn't be gone. He was the strongest mage ever, his son reasoned. I mean, Jesus, he was Natsu. That was reason enough for anyone. There was just no way, but it was true. The strong Natsu, the one who could take anything coming at him, died in such a simple way. Well, not all simple, but not as glorifying as he probably would have wanted. He just sustained to many injuries during a mission he took alone fighting a dark guild. He destroyed the dark guild, of course, but the wounds he gained in battle were too much for his body to handle this time and Natsu died.

Lucy was at home waiting for him, pregnant with his daughter, their second child, comforting her worrying son, when she received the news of her husband's death. The funeral was to be held tomorrow. Her son had disappeared, probably to his room to digest the news of his father's death. She needed a second to herself too.

And as she looked up at the weather now, the sun peaking through the leaves on branches and clouds, she wished it to rain. She willed it to rain with her mind. Unsurprisingly, the rain never came, the sky refused to cry with her, instead blinding her with light from the sun. Why wasn't it raining? This isn't some sunshiny moment, she thought bitterly. Then the wind blew, warm and sweet like his touch and tears began to spill over because this was Natsu. Her love, her best friend. What would she do without her light in the darkness? The answer simple: Be consumed by it. And so the breeze continued to breeze on by, and with that breeze her memories of Natsu and her together blew through her mind. Smiling, laughing, making love so passionately even in her sadness she still manages to blush a little recalling it. Natsu, at the guild, cackling wildly while causing chaos. Natsu, sick and throwing up on many train conductors. Natsu, grinning handsomely at her, as if he knew something she didn't. Now the tears refuse to stop, and it seemed the wind refused to slow down as well. She was on the balcony of the house she and Natsu owned. It was in the forest, near the town, but far enough away for the privacy she so longed for, he had explained to her when he showed her their new home. She remembers him touching her swelling belly gingerly, whispering words of love to their unborn child, and saying that this was his home now.

It seemed Natsu knew their baby was a boy from the start. He took pride in having Aden look just like him. Aden even has a very similar personality to Natsu, and is a fire mage, just like his father. Natsu would teach Aden out in the backyard fire techniques. The balcony she was on faced the large field where they practiced. When they trained together, she'd observe them from here, sipping a cool drink, for their heat waves could reach her from the second story, while reading a book. It was a grassy field, that had burn marks in random places, and a small lake about ten feet away that they swam in together when the heat was too much to bear. Natsu taught their son how to swim there too, and once when Aden was sleeping over at his friends house, Natsu made love to Lucy in that beautiful lake. Lucy loved Natsu. And now he was gone. The tree near her balcony rustled with the wind, blocking the sun from getting her completely.

Then she remembered a day, when Aden was only a year old, after he was lulled to sleep by her soft singing, Natsu came in and hugged her waist tightly from behind, and ushered her away from the sleeping pink haired baby in his crib to the balcony in their room across the hall, the same one she stood on now. He said something then that she had long forgotten, buried deep in her brain, till now.

"Lucy, one day, I won't be here anymore... Death happens to all of us, and its not like I'm planning on dying anytime soon, but it will happen... I think Masters dying but isn't telling us. And I understand why he isn't, now. He doesn't want us to be sad. He wants to live out the rest of his life with us when we're at our happiest. So Lucy, I've been thinking a lot lately, and when I die I have one last request of you." He murmured softly into my ear, and I turned so I could face him now, I didn't like were this conversation was going. I was silent when he was talking, but I became a tad panicked.

"Natsu?" I asked, and you could hear that panic seeping into my voice.

"Shhh" he said, kissing my forehead, attempting to calm me.

"When I die, I know it'll be hard, but when you feel alone, or sad, just remember: I lived. With everything I had. I lived my life with no regrets. Death isn't goodbye. Not for us, not for Aden, or for anyone in Fairy Tail. I'll be seeing you again, just not for a while... Tell my son stories of me, no matter how old he is when I die, don't let him forget his father, and by doing that, I live on in him and in you, and in everyone else. So...So, when I leave, please, don't cry. Smile, Lucy, because I lived. And I was so happy." He said, kissing me on the temple gently.

"Then do the same for me." I told him. He looked surprised. I wanted him to promise too, and I thought that maybe by him promising to me he'd do the same, that this would make the conversation we were having less real, less possible.

" It'll be hard. But I promise to celebrate your life too. I'll try not to cry." He whispered sadly to me, his eyes staring into mine. The moon was raised highly above us at the time, and I could see all his features in the moonlight. He's so beautiful I thought to myself.

"Then I promise too." I smile half heartily and he smiles fully to me, but his eyes look so relieved, that it scares me. In his onyx eyes, it seems he knows that he would be the first to go and that troubled me. He looked at me like he knew he'd die young.

"Come on, lets go to bed" I say, grabbing his muscular arm and pulling him off the balcony, through the double doors leading us to our bed, and lying down with him.

He props his head up with one arm and smiles at me devilishly, and I recognize that look saying he doesn't want to sleep tonight.

" We can't... Aden..." I reason, but he ignores it.

" I closed the door, he's down the hall, and he's sound asleep." He counters.

And then he kisses me so passionately that I can hardly breathe, let alone argue, and the dark talk we just had fades away into the back of my mind as I begin to quietly moan his name into the silent night.

I open my eyes now, staring back at the field of grass, the suns still up but the branches offer no protection, and the suns shinning down on me so brightly I have to move my eyes away. I notice pink movement below me on the grass and see my ten-year-old son, with spiky pink hair, crouching down on the field, his hand sweeping over burnt marks in the brush. I see tears sliding down his face, but he wears a small smile. He chuckles a little, clutching the grass and says very quietly, almost so quiet I didn't hear him:

"I love you, dad."

I smile, and turn, quickly (but safely too-I'm six months pregnant) rushing down the stairs to the back yard. I burst the large back doors open to the back yard and rush towards Aden. Rushing to my son who is so much like his father, but like me too. He's not Natsu, that'd be weird, but I can see Natsu in him. I see Natsu and I in him, Aden's the creation of our love, and I love our son so much. Aden, who is his own beautiful, powerful, brilliant, understanding person. I run towards him now, and hug him from behind. He cries silently with me, putting his small rough hand on my arms that cradle him, leaning back to feel the warmth of his mother- but his smile is still there. Mine is too.

Are these tears of happiness? Surely not, I'm afraid I'm anything but happy, Natsu, that request you made was rather selfish. However, I made you promised to me too, so I suppose we're both pretty selfish then. These tears aren't born from pain as much as they are born from love, and slow acceptance. I know one day I'll be able to fulfill our promise fully. One day I'll be able to smile because you're right, you really did live. I have proof: with Aden, our unborn daughter, my memories of us, and the guild's memories of you. Your gone, but your still here, with us, always. That's what you were trying to tell me, all those years ago, under the full moon, wasn't it?

That you'd never really be gone.

I hope this story makes some sense. This is my first Fanfic (: and I know that I always switch past and present tenses a lot in my writing and since its summer I don't have a teacher to scold me about my writing issues. So, I figured I'd try getting off my lazy ass and practice writing some stories that have been floating around in my head, since like forever. This is just one of many to come (:


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